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Trace William Cowen is a writer based in Los Angeles. He tweets with dramatic irregularity here.

Jan 09, 2019

Image via Getty/Lester Cohen/WireImage

The inherent genius of the choose-your-own-adventure format is that, by its very design, you're quite easily compelled to keep hopping back into the narrative in search of alternate outcomes. Netflix's Black Mirror experiment Bandersnatch is predictably no exception, with the streaming provider itself now chiming in with an option fans may have missed during their first few run-throughs.

All told, there's said to be more than a year's worth of careful planning and a massive 157-page script behind the experiment's five main endings. Exactly what qualifies as a "main ending," as detailed in a fascinating THRreport, was a distinction that sparked behind-the-scenes debate.

"There were quite heated debates about what constitutes an 'ending,'" creator Charlie Brooker said. "There's a school of thought that says any time it stops and you go back, that's an ending. In Bandersnatch, there are endings that are really abrupt that are still endings, in my mind."

Ending definition debates aside, the experiment appears to have paid off quite well for Netflix.